中际旭创(300308) 2Q earnings reinforce AI infrastructure spend momentum

　　中际旭创(300308)

　　Innolight announced1H25preliminary earnings.1H25NP is guided to beRMB3.6bn-RMB4.4bn,up53%-87%YoY.2Q NP alone is estimated to beRMB2.0bn-RMB2.8bn,up50%-107%YoY/27%-78%QoQ.2Q NP beatBloomberg consensus of RMB1.9bn by9%-52%.According to the company,thestrong results were driven by1)robust topline growth on sustained AI demand(report)and2)margin increases due to a favorable product mix(highercontribution from800G and silicon photonics products)and yield improvement.Reiterate BUY with TP raised to RMB225.

　　Sequential revenue growth in recent quarters driven by robust AIinfrastructure spend.Innolight's revenue grew by38%YoY/2%QoQ in1Q.We expect2Q NP to grow QoQ again,driven by1)strong capex fromoverseas CSPs and new entrants,2)strong demand for400G/800Gtransceivers from ASIC/Ethernet datacenter needs.By data rate,revenuecontribution from800G/SiPh products continues to grow.Looking ahead,mgmt.expects AI-driven demand to remain elevated through2026with800Gvolumes continuing to rise and1.6T adoption accelerating.We noticed thatEoptolink(300502CH,NR)also preannounced significant2Q NP growth of293%-386%YoY/35%-67%QoQ.In addition,FII(601138CH,NR)pre-announced2Q NP growth of48%-52%YoY/29%-32%QoQ.FII’s mgmt.highlighted that AI server sales growth exceeded60%YoY in2Q,and800Gswitch sales alone nearly tripled full-year sales in2024.BBG consensusforecasts major overseas hyperscalers'(MSFT/AMZN/GOOG/META)capexto grow by43%YoY and domestic Big Three’s(Alibaba/Tencent/Baidu)capex to grow by44%YoY in2025E.As a key beneficiary riding the AItailwind,we forecast Innolight's revenue to increase by52.5%in2025E.

　　Further margin expansion on favourable product mix and better yields.With higher800G sales and incremental contribution from1.6T,we expect(3Q24/4Q24/1Q25:33.6%/35.1%/36.7%).SiPh demand is growing,offsettingthe impact of EML shortage and contributing to GPM.Innolight will provideSiPh solutions for1.6T products as well,per mgmt.,and we estimate NPM toreach a historical high in2Q while remaining at a high level going forward(CMBI est.:25%+).We expect the company's GPM to reach38.7%in2025E(vs.prev.35.3%),due to better-than-expected GPM in2Q.We have alsorevised up2025E NP to RMB9.2bn(77%YoY vs.prev.49%YoY).

　　Reiterate BUY with TP raised to RMB225,based on27x2025E P/E(peers’avg.2025E P/E is28.1x),close to0.5SD above its5-yr avg.hist.forward P/E(21.8x).We have raised our revenue/NP growth forecasts to52.5%/77.3%YoY in2025on1)higher800G shipment volume,2)milderannual ASP adjustments and3)an enhanced GPM.We lift our target P/E to27x vs.prior21.5x given little impact from earlier tariffs.Key risks includeslower-than-expected shipments,geopolitical uncertainties,supply chainshortage,etc.

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